QED

Op de blog The proof is out there vond ik een schitterende parodie op de persconferenties die George Bush en Gordon Brown geven. De auteur stelt voor dat we beide politieke leiders eens wat eenvoudige wiskunde vraagstukken voorleggen:

Vraag: “What is 37 times 23?”

Antwoord van George W Bush (US):

You know, I’m getting’ kinda tired of being asked this question all the time. People keep askin’ me, what’s 37 times 23? When will you finally give an answer? And all I can say is, I refuse to set terms and conditions on what 37 times 23 is, or to give a deadline for that solution. I mean, if I give what’s meant to be some kinda definitive answer, that’s just gonna embolden the enemy. But we’re workin’ on this. You gotta trust me on this one.

Antwoord van Gordon Brown (UK):

I’m happy to announce that under a Labour government, 37 times 23 is much more than it ever was under the Conservatives.

Vraag: “Differentiate sine x with respect to x”

Antwoord van George W Bush (US):

Now I’m no expert on math, but I believe we do need to show respect to x. I believe all letters should be respected, not just x, but also y, and zee, and… um… all the the other letters, alphabetically speaking. And as for this business of sinex, well, let me be clear that we do need to differentiate on this matter, ‘cos if we do nothing about sinexes then we just end up emboldening the nasal passages. And that’s just what the enemy wants. So I’m calling on Congress to support our troops and join with me in this battle on terror. We need to differentiate the sinexes and smoke ‘em out.

Antwoord van Gordon Brown (UK):

It’s important, I believe, to identify the role of the United Nations in ensuring differentiation, according to the Newton/Leibniz protocol originally agreed in 1673. It would be easy to give an answer to this question of how we differentiate sine x, but we have to be able to meet this answer within the context of financial jurisprudence, which is why…